Dad charged with murder in fatal fentanyl poisoning of toddler son at south Wichita motel
A man has been charged with first-degree felony murder in connection with the July death of a toddler boy who was exposed to fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that can be fatal in small doses.
Lucca Wayne Lien was 13 months old when he was found unresponsive at the Heritage Inn, a south Wichita motel near 47th South and Broadway, on July 3, according to his autopsy report and the Wichita Police Department. The child was pronounced dead at a Wichita-area hospital around 6 a.m. that morning, WPD spokesman Chad Ditch said in July.
On Thursday, months after the death, a man identified by Lucca’s obituary as his father — 30-year-old Jordan Lien — was arrested on a warrant and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of first-degree felony murder, two counts of aggravated endangering a child and use or possession with the intent to use drug paraphernalia, according to Sedgwick County Jail booking records.
Lien made a first appearance in Sedgwick County District Court on those same charges Monday afternoon, court records show. He remained in the jail on Monday afternoon in lieu of $500,000 bond.
Lucca’s autopsy report, filed with the court late last month, lists his cause of death as fentanyl toxicity. The toddler also had blunt force injuries to his head, including bruising, an abrasion and a skull fracture.
Toxicology screening “showed very high levels of fentanyl in the (boy’s) heart blood and brain tissue” that were “well into commonly accepted fatal range,” the report says.
“It is unclear how Lucca may have ingested or otherwise been exposed to fentanyl, and whether this exposure was accidental or intentional/inflicted,” the report goes on to say.
As for the boy’s head injuries, the autopsy report noted that it is “unclear how these injuries were sustained, but the possibility of inflicted trauma cannot be ruled out.” Whether they contributed to Lucca’s death also “is unclear,” the report says.
Asked last week for additional details about the case, including the circumstances of the boy’s death, Ditch, the WPD spokesman, referred The Eagle to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. The DA’s Office on Monday afternoon confirmed the child’s age and said the felony crime underlying Lien’s murder charge is aggravated endangering of a child, which Kansas state law defines as “knowingly and unreasonably causing or permitting a child under the age of 18 years to be placed in a situation in which the child’s life, body or health may be endangered.”
But DA’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon said other details about Lien’s alleged crimes and the circumstances of the boy’s death would have to come from a probable cause affidavit, a law enforcement document that lays out legal justification for a defendant’s arrest and criminal charges. That document can be released through an open records request.
Lucca’s online obituary described him as “a content, quiet baby that loved to be tickled,” play and explore “everything that he could reach.”
Born in Colorado, he celebrated his first birthday a little more that a month before he died, the obituary says.
Lien’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 28.
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 4:16 PM.
